Kish is our first narrated story. And our first, what’s the word? epic? film. We were really excited to make it, and try out a new episode form, and we are so happy with how it turned out! We hope you will love it too.

It has special significance for us because the story was written by Grandpa Blair–and his voice narrates. (If you’re interested, you can read the original story here.) It’s a story we have heard many times, and we have retold it many times as well. We love the lessons it teaches, and the wonder at the night sky it inspires. [Fun fact: Grandpa Blair–a retired linguist–had in mind how people approach learning another language when he wrote the story of Kish.]

We filmed this episode this past summer in Snow Canyon, Utah. When we knew we would be near the area, we were so excited with the prospect of making an episode based on Kish–it is for sure our most “cinematic” episode yet. We love having this substantial connection to Grandpa–that his creative work and our creative work are intertwined. This episode makes us feel grateful for Grandparents, and grateful that Olive Us has enabled such inter-generational collaborations (Hand cookies with Grandma Mac was another such collaboration we loved). Sharing stories and recipes through these videos has been a much thicker connection than we ever could have predicted or imagined. But we think the story of Kish is strong enough that you’ll love it even if it wasn’t written by your Grandpa.

And speaking of creative work, this episode took a lot of different thinking to go from a written story to a short film. For example, we adapted the story to remove dialogue–which was really central in the original story, but can get complicated or confusing when a narrator speaks for actors–and rely more on visuals to tell the story. Tiger in a Jar jumped in head first to bring Kish to life. We love the custom music written and produced by Geoff Groberg. And are so happy with the beautiful illustrations by Merrilee Liddiard. We can’t tell–does our enthusiasm carry over to this blog post? Because it’s hard to contain it in these parts. Watch Kish Now!

The visuals from the Kish setting–Snow Canyon in Southern Utah–were amazing. This was one of the shoots where every few minutes, someone would say, “Is this place for real?!!”

Iconic Kish:

To share Kish (and we hope you will!) use this code: https://vimeo.com/59196587

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Olive Us Launches First Film Festival!

We are thrilled to announce that First Film Festival is live! This is the first festival of its kind aimed at creating, promoting, and discussing family-friendly films made by kids. First Film Festival is an initiative of Olive Us. Learn more about First Film Festival here.

Olive Us is a series that strives to make beautiful and inspiring videos that will encourage you and your loved ones to get up and move. Or make something. Or try something new. Or see some familiar task in a new and fun light. Read our Manifesto here.